Copenhagen Airport to accommodate monster planes

Bids being sought to widen runways and expand terminals

December 16th, 2014 1:47 pm| by admin

Copenhagen Airport is on schedule with its adjustments to be able to handle the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus 380. Close to 50 million kroner will be spent on widening the runways and expanding terminals in order to accommodate the giant, which has a wingspan of almost 80 metres, Jyllands-Posten reports.

Four of the airlines serving Copenhagen have A380s in their fleet, and Thomas Woldbye, the head of the airport, said that accommodating the planes made sense.

“We’ve already started with the expansion and maintenance of the runways and terminals,” he said.

“It’s therefore common sense to gradually make the airport ready to receive the world’s largest passenger plane.”

Airlines positive Copenhagen’s runways are currently 45 metres in width, which is the industry standard, but they will have to be broadened by four to seven metres. The airport is currently seeking bids to conduct the upgrade.

Emirates is the airline with the most A380s in its fleet. Teddy Zebitz, the head of its Denmark division, greeted the news positively.

“Denmark is a key market for us and we are always looking for new ways to improve what we offer our customers,” he said.

“We already operate one of the largest planes from Copenhagen and, if the airport can at one point handle A380s from Emirates, we would naturally always look at business opportunities that benefit our customers.”